Security Systems News - Parks Associateshttp://securitysystemsnews.com/taxonomy/term/4289
enPrime time for Alarm.com IPOhttp://securitysystemsnews.com/article/prime-time-alarmcom-ipo
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<div class="field-item even">Interactive services provider files for $75m IPO</div>
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<div class="field-item even" property="schema:datePublished dc:date"><span class="date-display-single" property="schema:datePublished dc:date" datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2015-05-27T00:00:00-04:00">05/27/2015</span></div>
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<div class="field-item even" rel="schema:author dc:creator">Martha Entwistle</div>
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<div class="field-item even" property="schema:articleBody content:encoded"> <p>VIENNA, Va.—It has been a year since reports surfaced that Alarm.com owner ABS wanted to exit its investment. The wait may have been worthwhile, according to experts who spoke to <em>Security Systems News</em>. Now is a good time for Alarm.com, a fast-growing, market-leading provider of interactive services, to go public, they say.</p>
<p>“There’s a lot of excitement and energy around the smart home right now, and to a certain degree the timing of this IPO may reflect that,” Tom Kerber, director of research for Parks Associates, told SSN.</p>
<p>“Interactive services have transformed the security industry,” Kerber said. Parks Associates estimates that 65 percent of new security systems “are smart or connected."</p>
<p>The smart home is becoming mainstream, and it’s the security industry that “is leading the transition to the smart home,” he said. </p>
<p>Alarm.com filed for the $75 million IPO late on May 22, the Friday before Memorial Day weekend. The 280-page filing includes financials which have drawn praise from financial market observers in the several days since.</p>
<p>Alarm.com has 5,000 dealers and the company boasts a 14 percent CAGR from 2010 to 2014. In 2014, Alarm.com had $167.3 million in revenue, up 28 percent over 2013. Its net income in 2014 was $13.5 million, up from $4.5 million in 2013. Its adjusted EBITDA was $28.3 million.</p>
<p>Its Q1 2015 performance includes $46 million in revenue, 28 percent higher than Q1 of 2014. </p>
<p>The company is owned by ABS Capital Partners. In 2009, ABS, along with Alarm.com management and Egis Capital, acquired the company from former majority owner MicroStrategy for $27.7 million. In 2012, Technology Crossover Ventures invested $136 million in Alarm.com.</p>
<p>In a July 2013 video interview with Security Systems News, <a href="http://www.securitysystemsnews.com/videos/chefitz-egis-capital-investing-industry" target="_blank">Egis Capital managing partner Robert Chefitz talked about the company’s growth.</a> “It grew from 250,000 homes when we bought the business with ABS [in 2009], and I’m proud to say that we now have 1.5 million homes. So it’s worked well," he said.</p>
<p>Today, Alarm.com has 2.3 million subscribers, according to the filing. The filing cites a Parks Associates' estimate that Alarm.com is the market leader among connected home platform providers. “Alarm.com had approximately 50 percent more subscribers than the next largest platform provider in North America," the filing says.</p>
<p>Alarm.com derives 33 percent of its revenue from hardware and the rest from monitoring and licensing. Its 2014 monitoring and licensing revenue was $111 million, a 25 percent increase over 2013. In Q1 2015, Alarm.com had monitoring and licensing revenue of $32 million, a 27 percent increase over the first quarter of 2014.</p>
<p>Several mainstream reports discussed the competitive landscape and particularly the potential effect of Google and Apple’s interest in the market.</p>
<p>Parks Associates’ Kerber said both Apple and Google “have enormous resources and [you want to keep an eye on them] as potential disrupters for the broader smart home [market].” In terms of interactive services, however, Kerber said “it’s hard to consider how Google and Apple could disrupt the security industry in terms of its core value proposition. … Security is a well-known value proposition that doesn't change despite what’s happening around it.”</p>
<p>While it is possible, Kerber doubts that self-monitored systems—likely where Google and Apple will place their bets—will be disruptive to professionally installed security systems. </p>
<p>Kerber said the outside players will not provide dealers with the kinds of services (technical support and CRM, for example) that companies like Alarm.com does. “Alarm.com is in a safe place. … and in the long term it’s hard to imagine a time when professionally monitored security is not part of the equation."</p>
<p>Contacted by <em>Security Systems News</em>, Alarm.com declined comment on the deal.<br /> </p> </div>
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<span property="dc:title" content="Prime time for Alarm.com IPO" class="rdf-meta element-hidden"></span>Wed, 27 May 2015 19:29:07 +0000SSN Editor18356 at http://securitysystemsnews.comhttp://securitysystemsnews.com/article/prime-time-alarmcom-ipo#commentsAT&T to buy DIRECTV for $48.5bhttp://securitysystemsnews.com/article/att-buy-directv-485b
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<div class="field-item even"> Analysts: Deal could result in potential monitoring synergies, bundling opportunities</div>
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<div class="field-item even" property="schema:datePublished dc:date"><span class="date-display-single" property="schema:datePublished dc:date" datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2014-05-19T00:00:00-04:00">05/19/2014</span></div>
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<div class="field-item even" rel="schema:author dc:creator">Tess Nacelewicz</div>
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<div class="field-item even" property="schema:articleBody content:encoded"> <p>DALLAS, Texas and EL SEGUNDO, Calif.—AT&amp;T plans to buy satellite television provider DIRECTV for $48.5 billion, the companies announced this week. The deal will allow AT&amp;T to expand its broadband network to more than 70 million customer locations, the companies said.</p>
<p>Both companies have home security/home automation offerings—AT&amp;T has Digital Life and DIRECTV bought LifeShield Security last year. And according to Tom Kerber, director of research, home control and energy for Parks Associates, a Dallas-based market research firm, the acquisition of DIRECTV “just makes AT&amp;T that much more of a powerful competitor” when it comes to the connected home.</p>
<p>That’s because, Kerber explained to <em>Security Systems News</em>, “the DIRECTV acquisition definitely expands the bundle of services that AT&amp;T can offer consumers.”</p>
<p>He also believe the deal could allow the companies to take advantage of monitoring synergies—AT&amp;T has two monitoring centers for Digital Life; LifeShield relies on third-party monitoring—and perhaps complementary sales strategies.</p>
<p>It’s not clear what AT&amp;T and DIRECTV have planned for the home security/home automation part of their businesses as a result of the deal—which still must be approved by federal regulators.</p>
<p>In fact, Jonathan Collins, principal analyst with ABI Research, a New York-based technology market intelligence company, told SSN, “I just don’t think the smart home is one of the primary drivers of this deal. It may have a positive effect on both AT&amp;T and Digital Life but I don’t think that greatly factored into the move.”</p>
<p>AT&amp;T and DIRECTV make no mention of Digital Life and LifeShield in a lengthy May 18 news release on the planned sale. In a prepared statement, AT&amp;T Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson, describes the deal as “a unique opportunity that will redefine the video entertainment industry and create a company able to offer new bundles and deliver content to consumers across multiple screens – mobile devices, TVs, laptops, cars and even airplanes.”</p>
<p>When asked how the sale might impact security/home automation offerings, a source close to AT&amp;T told SSN that it's premature to comment on what might happen with Digital Life or LifeShield at this point, but that AT&amp;T and DIRECTV plan to continue operating as usual until the deal is finalized.</p>
<p>LifeShield referred a request for comment to DIRECTV, which had not responded by SSN’s deadline.</p>
<p>Still, Kerber and Collins say the deal carries potential benefits when it comes to the companies’ smart home and security services.</p>
<p>AT&amp;T in April announced that Digital Life, its professionally monitored and professionally installed service, was <a href="http://www.securitysystemsnews.com/article/att-digital-life-expands-75-markets-its-first-year" target="_blank">thriving</a> in 75 markets nationwide after trialing the service in 2012 in Dallas and Atlanta and then launching it in 15 markets one year ago. As of the end of this week, Digital Life will be offered in a total of 81 markets throughout the nation, debuting May 23 in six additional new markets ranging from Florida to California, AT&amp;T spokeswoman Kuriko Wong told SSN.</p>
<p>And DIRECTV got into security last year with the <a href="http://www.securitysystemsnews.com/article/directv-gets-security-acquires-lifeshield" target="_blank">purchase of LifeShield</a>, a self-installed, professionally monitored, wireless digital security system.</p>
<p>Collins believes Digital Life is the stronger product of the two. He noted that DIRECTV only got into the security/smart home market in 2013 with the LifeShield buy. “That’s clearly an area they looked at and saw potential in, but maybe hadn’t gotten as far down the road as many of their [telecom and cableco] competitors,” he said. “… I would imagine AT&amp;T Digital Life would take preference when it comes to promoting to new customers.”</p>
<p>In the deal, AT&amp;T would gain 20 million new customers, according to news reports.</p>
<p>Kerber believes there will be bundling opportunities for AT&amp;T in the deal. He pointed to a survey that Parks Associates did earlier this year showing how cablecos and telecoms are using that feature to their advantage. The survey showed that “23 percent of professionally monitored security systems acquired in the last 12 months were bundled with broadband TV, mobile or phone service.”</p>
<p>“So basically,” Kerber continued, “it’s the cable or telecom industry bundling security with their core services. … They’re essentially gaining some pretty good share of the new [security] systems; they’re not necessarily taking share from existing accounts but in the [new] growth, they’re taking a good bit.”</p>
<p>The AT&amp;T-DIRECTV deal, he said, “helps AT&amp;T compete more for its core business and for the security business, because of the attractiveness of the overall bundle.”</p>
<p>Both Kerber and Collins said the deal could result in monitoring synergies.</p>
<p>AT&amp;T has two monitoring centers, one in Dallas and one in Atlanta, for which it <a href="http://www.securitysystemsnews.com/article/att-earns-csaa-five-diamond-certification" target="_blank">received Five Diamond certification</a> from the Central Station Alarm Association last year.</p>
<p>LifeShield and Protection 1 in 2012 announced a partnership in which Pro 1 became LifeShield’s monitoring provider.</p>
<p>“I guess there are savings that could be realized from [LifeShield] using the AT&amp;T monitoring centers,” Collins said.</p>
<p>The AT&amp;T-DIRECTV deal will be a stock-and-cash transaction for $95 per share based on AT&amp;T’s May 16 closing price, according to the companies’ news release. The agreement has been approved unanimously by the boards of directors of both companies, but is subject to regulatory approval by the federal government.</p>
<p>“This purchase price implies a total equity value of $48.5 billion and a total transaction value of $67.1 billion, including DIRECTV’s net debt,” the release said.</p>
<p>The release also said the two companies would combine “complementary strengths to create a unique new competitor with unprecedented capabilities in mobility, video and broadband services.”</p>
<p>AT&amp;T is a Texas-based telecom with a nationwide mobile network and a high-speed broadband network. California-based DIRECTV bills itself as the premier pay TV provider in the United States and Latin America and contends it has the “best technology for delivering and viewing high-quality video on any device … among major U.S. cable and satellite TV providers.”</p>
<p>AT&amp;T’s “broadband network … will cover 70 million customer locations with the broadband expansion enabled by this transaction,” the release said. And because satellite TV can reach rural areas, AT&amp;T’s geographic reach will grow, according to news reports.</p>
<p>News reports suggest that the AT&amp;T-DIRECTV deal was spurred by Comcast’s plan, announced earlier this year, to buy Time Warner Cable for $45 billion. Both of those companies also have home security/home automation offerings. AT&amp;T has denied that the Comcast-Time Warner deal, which also has yet to be approved by federal regulators, played a role in its DIRECTV plan.</p>
<p>But, according to <a href="http://www.seekingalpha.com" target="_blank">Seeking Alpha</a>, the deals have a similar aim. “The core purpose remains the same: to build the necessary scale to compete effectively in this capital-intensive business. … AT&amp;T and DirecTV would control about 25 percent of the U.S. pay-television market if regulators approve the deal, while the combination of Comcast and Time Warner Cable would boast a market share of about 33 percent.”</p>
<p>Among features of the AT&amp;T-DIRECTV deal, according to the news release, is that it will allow “the combined company to offer consumers bundles that include video, high-speed broadband and mobile services using all of its sales channels—AT&amp;T’s 2,300 retail stores and thousands of authorized dealers and agents of both companies nationwide.”</p>
<p>AT&amp;T’s strategy of selling home security in its retail stores has been key to the rapid growth of Digital Life, AT&amp;T Digital Life President Kevin Petersen <a href="http://www.securitysystemsnews.com/article/att-digital-life-expands-75-markets-its-first-year" target="_blank">recently told SSN</a>.</p>
<p>However, Kerber said adding more diversity to its sales strategy could be a boon to Digital Life. It's not clear what selling methods LifeShield uses but “to the degree this [deal] can help [AT&amp;T] expand the sales channel beyond that retail, that would be good as well,” he said.</p>
<p>Should professional security companies be worried about the AT&amp;T-DIRECTV deal?</p>
<p>Kerber said smaller dealers still retain their local service advantage over the giant telecom. “Obviously the security dealer competes on that personalized service and individual attention … and for people who value those services that’s going to be a differentiator for dealers for a long time, I think,” he said.</p>
<p>Collins said he doesn’t consider this deal a game changer. “AT&amp;T moving into the security market—that certainly was a game changer. This is a continuation [of that],” he said.</p>
<p>However, Collins cautioned that for small security companies “in areas heavily served by satellite TV, you now have the potential to see smart home and security services competition to that customer base.”</p> </div>
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<span property="dc:title" content="AT&amp;T to buy DIRECTV for $48.5b" class="rdf-meta element-hidden"></span>Mon, 19 May 2014 16:52:52 +0000Tess Nacelewicz17485 at http://securitysystemsnews.comhttp://securitysystemsnews.com/article/att-buy-directv-485b#commentsAvoiding the Internet of Broken Things in the smart home, and customer attritionhttp://securitysystemsnews.com/article/avoiding-internet-broken-things-smart-home-and-customer-attrition
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<div class="field-item even">Technical support is key to getting homeowners to successfully adopt connected devices</div>
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<div class="field-item even" property="schema:datePublished dc:date"><span class="date-display-single" property="schema:datePublished dc:date" datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2014-05-14T00:00:00-04:00">05/14/2014</span></div>
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<div class="field-item even" rel="schema:author dc:creator">Tess Nacelewicz</div>
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<div class="field-item even" property="schema:articleBody content:encoded"> <p>DALLAS—The Internet of Things, the connectivity of devices, systems and services in today’s interactive world, makes the connected home possible. But if those smart home devices don’t work because of even just one glitch in the connected system, attrition rates will rise.</p>
<p>That was the concern voiced in a webinar this spring titled “Supporting the Connected Home: Preventing the Internet of Broken Things.” The basic message of the webinar, hosted by Parks Associates, a market research firm based here, is that technical support is key to the successful adoption of connected devices.</p>
<p>“The mindset of consumers is that they just want things to work, and it’s highly unlikely that people will keep on buying products or keep a product around that doesn’t work as promised or acquire any similar product in that category,” said Patrice Samuels, research analyst with Parks Associates, one of three panelists presenting the webinar. “The technical support implication is that support services will need to make the process of using these devices as seamless as possible.”</p>
<p>James Morehead, VP of product management of Support.com, a provider of cloud-based services and software designed to enhance a customer’s experience with technology, also was a webinar presenter.</p>
<p>He noted, “It’s unusual to have a product in this Internet of Things world that does not have some dependency on another product.”</p>
<p>For example, he said, for a smart device that a homeowner may have, “the user interface is on a smartphone or tablet or Web browser and that user interface is driven out of a product that was not controlled or provided by the [smart device] company. So the success and usability of their offering is completely dependent on a third-party product.”</p>
<p>Morehead continued, “That is an incredible shift for customer support organizations. If you rolled back the clock 10 years ago, the typical situation would be, ‘Hey this is our product, we support our product, we know it inside and out, if it’s something to do with something else, you’re really going to have to call them.’ You really can’t do that when the core value of your product is enabled by a third party.”</p>
<p>Tom Kerber, Parks Associates’ director of research, home control and energy and the third webinar presenter, said the number of consumers with interactive services is increasing. He said, “Up to 20 percent [of homeowners with security systems] have a home control component added, either a lighting control or a door lock or thermostat … and that’s now a growing trend.”</p>
<p>But Samuels said the devices can be problematic because they’re technically complex and often “the first generation of their kind.”</p>
<p>She said, “Currently, home control devices have some of the highest frequencies of device-related problems. As many of 30 percent of consumers who currently use IP security cameras and electronic door locks … experience problems on a monthly basis and approximately 10 percent are experiencing these problems as often as daily.”</p>
<p>Samuels warned: “If the properties, adoption and usage of these items are not properly supported, this will impact the consumer experience, which will ultimately impact the brand and lead to such things as product return and, of course, lower adoption of similar products.”</p>
<p>Some good news, she said, is that “there is a premium tech support opportunity here,” because there is a strong demand for support services from those with connected homes. “In our studies of subscription buyers, we’re consistently finding that consumers who have more devices are more likely to support technical support subscriptions,” Samuels said.</p>
<p>Morehead said support services must adapt to be successful in the increasingly complex connected world, however.</p>
<p>“Building a relationship with the consumer is important to fully realize the Internet of Things opportunities and customer support plays a strategic role in establishing and building on that relationship,” he said.</p>
<p>Morehead suggested “expertise and automation” as two ways to go about addressing support challenges.</p>
<p>He said customer support staff need expertise not only in the company’s products but also probably on dependent third-party products.</p>
<p>Also, he advised that in addition to expertise and training, support staff should have “device diagnostics and device information at their fingertips … contextually relevant automation technology that would help them with the problems they’re trying to solve or questions they’re trying to answer.”</p> </div>
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<span property="dc:title" content="Avoiding the Internet of Broken Things in the smart home, and customer attrition" class="rdf-meta element-hidden"></span>Wed, 14 May 2014 17:09:59 +0000Leif Kothe17474 at http://securitysystemsnews.comhttp://securitysystemsnews.com/article/avoiding-internet-broken-things-smart-home-and-customer-attrition#commentsGetting 'fence sitters' to commit to securityhttp://securitysystemsnews.com/article/getting-fence-sitters-commit-security
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<div class="field-item even">A new study from Parks Associates says a new value equation with smart home features draws customers</div>
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<div class="field-item even" property="schema:datePublished dc:date"><span class="date-display-single" property="schema:datePublished dc:date" datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2013-11-01T00:00:00-04:00">11/01/2013</span></div>
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<div class="field-item even" rel="schema:author dc:creator">Tess Nacelewicz</div>
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<div class="field-item even" property="schema:articleBody content:encoded"> <p>DALLAS—Nearly 10 percent of the nation’s homeowners with broadband at home—about 5 million households—considered purchasing a home security system over the past year but didn’t acquire one, according to a new report from Parks Associates, a market research firm based here.</p>
<p>However, Tricia Parks, the firm’s CEO, told Security Systems News that with the right strategies, such “fence sitters” can turn into customers.</p>
<p>That’s because the research—resulting from multiple 2013 consumer surveys of U.S. broadband households—also showed that two-thirds of households without security systems expressed interest in “smart-home” systems “that provide a mixture of safety, security, and home control features.”</p>
<p>By adding smart-home components, Parks said, “the security industry has a lovely opportunity to begin actualizing on this potential.”</p>
<p>The statistics come from “Expanding the Base: From Security to Smarthome,” a research project the results of which Parks Associates released this fall.</p>
<p>Among the key findings of the study is that “new features and capabilities have the potential to expand the market for home security services well beyond its current rate” of roughly 20 percent.</p>
<p>Parks said that smart-home components cost more but add value. “To be able to do things like turn on and off your lights, program your thermostat and have these cameras, the whole value proposition is going up and that’s going to encourage what I’m going to call the fence sitters,” she said. “I wouldn’t say it’s as simple as low hanging fruit [to turn them into customers]. … However, they’re available and that’s a darn good start to getting higher volume.”</p>
<p>Among the recommended strategies in the Parks Associates study is to “offer three tiers: safety; safety and security; and a comprehensive system [for higher end customers].”</p>
<p>Also, the study warns, “be cautious about cross-subsidizing equipment.”</p>
<p>The study explains that security dealers “often offer subsidized equipment in exchange for monthly service fees and a service contract. This approach has served the industry well to date, but the market may be entering a new phase. Those without security systems today are resistant to monthly service fees and are likely to remain so until the value proposition resonates. Therefore, expanding the market will depend on keeping monthly fees down even at the expense of higher, upfront fees. Cross-subsidized equipment may therefore be better relegated to promotional offers rather than a standard offer."</p> </div>
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<span property="dc:title" content="Getting &#039;fence sitters&#039; to commit to security" class="rdf-meta element-hidden"></span>Fri, 01 Nov 2013 13:29:41 +0000Leif Kothe16952 at http://securitysystemsnews.comhttp://securitysystemsnews.com/article/getting-fence-sitters-commit-security#commentsNew options driving connected home growthhttp://securitysystemsnews.com/article/new-options-driving-connected-home-growth
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<div class="field-item even">Home safety products top homeowners’ wish list of additional features</div>
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<div class="field-item even" property="schema:datePublished dc:date"><span class="date-display-single" property="schema:datePublished dc:date" datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2013-07-17T00:00:00-04:00">07/17/2013</span></div>
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<div class="field-item even" rel="schema:author dc:creator">Tess Nacelewicz</div>
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<div class="field-item even" property="schema:articleBody content:encoded"> <p>DALLAS—A survey of consumers by Parks Associates found that the more features homeowners have in a home control system, the more likely they are to recommend the system to family and friends.</p>
<p>That means service providers who offer a full suite of home control options “have the advantage in this early market,” according to Tom Kerber, director of research on home controls and energy at Parks Associates, a market research company based here.</p>
<p>Also, he said, consumers who had a very positive installation experience also were more likely to recommend a home control system to others, compared to consumers whose installation experience was negative. “This really speaks to the importance of that installation and configuration process,” Kerber said.</p>
<p>Kerber made his remarks during a recent webinar titled “Success Factors in the Connected Home,” hosted by Parks Associates and Sigma Designs, a provider of system-on-chip solutions for home control and entertainment. Sigma Designs is a member of the Z-Wave Alliance. Representatives of the company gave presentations during the webinar on the importance of Z-Wave as the key enabling technology for the smart home.</p>
<p>Kerber noted the connected home is now possible because “the infrastructure is in place.” He said the 75 percent of homes in the United States with a broadband connection make up “the total addressable market for connected home opportunity.”</p>
<p>Also, he said, about 80 percent of households now own a smartphone—“the user interface that enables connected home services.”</p>
<p>Kerber said the reduction in the cost of storage for data “that comes off these [smart home] devices now can be used to create new functions and services. … Every connected device is now a streaming device for data.”</p>
<p>He gave an example of connectivity involving a garage door. Kerber said data collected from the door can be used in a very basic application to remind you as you’re driving away that you forgot to close the garage door, but in a more sophisticated way it can be combined with other data, such as severe weather alerts, so if “there’s a thunderstorm approaching, for example, you have this advanced warning that will give you a notification to close your door.”</p>
<p>Kerber said, “From a connected home perspective, service providers have access to data from multiple devices in the house. This is significant because of what I call the growing functionality that is enabled by data.”</p>
<p>In its survey, Parks Associates also asked consumers: “Which products would you be interested in purchasing if they could be monitored or managed from inside your home or using a smartphone, or a tablet device?”</p>
<p>He said answers showed that home safety products, such as smoke, fire and carbon monoxide detectors, ranked highest, followed by some of the security components, such as motion sensors and door and window sensors. Those were followed by energy control devices, he said.</p>
<p>“Those safety, security and energy components—you can see that there’s significant consumer demand for those,” Kerber said.</p> </div>
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<span property="dc:title" content="New options driving connected home growth" class="rdf-meta element-hidden"></span>Wed, 17 Jul 2013 18:08:31 +0000Leif Kothe16627 at http://securitysystemsnews.comhttp://securitysystemsnews.com/article/new-options-driving-connected-home-growth#commentsSecurity providers early winners in home automation/home security spacehttp://securitysystemsnews.com/article/security-providers-early-winners-home-automation-home-security-space
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<div class="field-item even">But telecoms and cable companies also are ‘in it to win’ and shouldn’t be discounted, an industry analyst says</div>
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<div class="field-item even" property="schema:datePublished dc:date"><span class="date-display-single" property="schema:datePublished dc:date" datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2012-05-29T00:00:00-04:00">05/29/2012</span></div>
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<div class="field-item even" rel="schema:author dc:creator">Tess Nacelewicz</div>
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<div class="field-item even" property="schema:articleBody content:encoded"> <p>DALLAS—Security providers have a “first mover” advantage in home automation/home security right now, but the big telecoms and cable companies entering the space are serious competitors who may be game-changers in the future, according to a market research company analyst.</p>
<p>“In the short term, there’s enough opportunity for everyone,” Tom Kerber, director of research on home controls and energy at Parks Associates, based here, said in a May 17 webcast on engaging consumers on home automation/home security services. “The combined efforts of all channels will help educate the consumer, grow awareness and increase the opportunity to sell home automation and connected home devices. The idea is that a rising tide floats all boats.”</p>
<p>However, he said, “there are different industries [security providers, telecoms and cable companies] that will be going head-to-head in the connected home. Each channel has its strengths and its weaknesses and size is just one of the factors, and it potentially could be a big factor.”</p>
<p>Kerber said security providers are in an enviable position at the moment. He said they “have a great opportunity to drive the market, at least in the early stages.”</p>
<p>He said reasons for that include “their customer base really matches some of the early adopter profiles, their one-on-one sales approach used by dealers is best suited to educate customers on the value propositions of the connected home, and their professional installation process ensures the customer experience is positive from the outset.”</p>
<p>In addition, Kerber said, “the security channel was also one of the first to the market. We’ve all heard of ADT Pulse [and also] other players like Vivint, 2GIG and Alarm.com who have been leading the home control/home automation security space for some time now.”</p>
<p> “The security channel, I think, has a lot of reason to feel good at their prospects,” he said.</p>
<p>But Kerber noted that telecoms and cable companies have been entering the home automation/home security space during the past two years. Companies include <a href="http://www.securitysystemsnews.com/article/att-bullish-security">AT&amp;T</a>, <a href="http://www.securitysystemsnews.com/blog/verizon-securing-nation%E2%80%99s-homes">Verizon</a>, <a href="http://www.securitysystemsnews.com/article/comcast-adds-more-markets-across-country">Comcast</a>, <a href="http://www.securitysystemsnews.com/article/time-warner-cable-frontier-enter-home-security-market">Time Warner Cable</a>, <a href="http://www.securitysystemsnews.com/article/telecom-partners-professional-security-companies-second-go-round">Frontier Communications</a> and <a href="http://www.securitysystemsnews.com/article/cox-home-security-arizona">Cox Communications</a>.</p>
<p>Kerber said that some in the security channel discount them. “They’re looking at these broadband service providers and telecoms and some are thinking, ‘Hey, they’ve been here and done that before, and they've failed in the past,’ and maybe they consider them potentially inferior competitors because of the lack of that strong dealer touch point.”</p>
<p>However, he said, “I think the telecoms would argue that the technology has come a long way and that it has really radically simplified the installation process, making even DIY solutions a practical alternative.”</p>
<p>For example, Kerber said, “Verizon reported recently that 80 percent of its customers chose to install their home monitoring and control systems themselves. So it’s definitely not a done deal in terms of who’s the winner in this space. Everyone is making substantial investment here, and they’re in it to win.”</p>
<p>But Kerber said there continues to be a lot of opportunity in the space. He said that Parks Associates’ research shows that “the income from all connected home bundles will grow to over $3 billion in the next five years.”</p>
<p>“This is a growing market that’s still in the early adopter phase with still a lot of opportunity,” he said. “The percentage of people who are willing to pay a premium for these services … is there and certainly will drive the market going forward.”</p>
<p>And, he said, “beyond the early adoption, I think the ideas of expanding capabilities through opportunities to make money or to drive incremental value through expanded capabilities will drive us beyond early adoption.”</p>
<p>As an example, he pointed to <a href="http://www.securitysystemsnews.com/article/comcast-s-xfinity-gets-new-name-and-features">Comcast’s partnership with EcoFactor</a>, an energy modeling services company, to provide customers automated control of their thermostats and save up to 30 percent on energy costs. “An application like that, layered on top of this remote monitoring control, I think definitely has the opportunity to drive the market beyond the early adopter phase,” he said.</p>
<p>He also said that partnerships with utility companies could be another opportunity. “They have the ability to fund and put money in … that the rest of the channel does not have the capability to do,” Kerber said.</p> </div>
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<span property="dc:title" content="Security providers early winners in home automation/home security space" class="rdf-meta element-hidden"></span>Tue, 29 May 2012 16:03:03 +0000Rich Miller15446 at http://securitysystemsnews.comhttp://securitysystemsnews.com/article/security-providers-early-winners-home-automation-home-security-space#commentsTremendous growth forecast for home energy managementhttp://securitysystemsnews.com/article/tremendous-growth-forecast-home-energy-management
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<div class="field-item even">Analyst: Security companies can use their close relationships with customers to drive the market</div>
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<div class="field-item even" property="schema:datePublished dc:date"><span class="date-display-single" property="schema:datePublished dc:date" datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2012-03-26T00:00:00-04:00">03/26/2012</span></div>
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<div class="field-item even" rel="schema:author dc:creator">Tess Nacelewicz</div>
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<div class="field-item even" property="schema:articleBody content:encoded"> <p>DALLAS—A recent Parks Associates study predicts home energy management will become a huge market during the next 10 years, and security companies are in a unique position to take advantage of that through their close customer relationships, according to an analyst with the market research company.</p>
“I think they have a great opportunity to drive the market, at least in the early stages,” said Tom Kerber, director of research on home controls and energy at Parks Associates, based here.</p>
<p>Parks Associates found that 60 percent of U.S. homes will have energy management technologies by 2022, and that the market will generate $180 million by 2015. The study was a topic of discussion at the 2012 Smart Energy Summit, hosted by Parks Associates in Austin, Texas from Feb. 28 to March 1.</p>
<p>Currently, about 5 percent of homes have energy management technologies, Kerber told Security Systems News.</p>
<p>He said the “explosion of smartphones” and other new technologies that help homeowners manage their energy usage remotely are helping to drive the tremendous growth.</p>
<p>He noted that more smart meters are being installed on homes. “In the time frame [of the study], probably over 50 percent of homes will have smart meters and they will have the ability to communicate with devices in the home,” Kerber said. So, he said, home security/home automation systems “will likely have a connection to that [smart] meter and so the meter will be part of that system.”</p>
<p>He said another factor that will drive adoption are features like the one that Comcast recently announced it is adding to its <a href="http://www.securitysystemsnews.com/article/comcast-s-xfinity-gets-new-name-and-features">Xfinity Home home automation/home security product</a>. </p>
<p>Comcast said in February that it has an agreement with EcoFactor, a provider of energy management solutions, to develop a new solution integrating EcoFactor’s cloud-based software with the Xfinity platform. The new solution will collect data on the weather, the thermal characteristics of a house and the temperature preferences of its occupants and use them to make thermostat adjustments to save the homeowner money.</p>
<p>“Having devices in your house that make smart decisions on your behalf I think is kind of where the industry is going,” Kerber said.</p>
<p>He said customers want the latest in energy management capabilities, but because the devices are new “they require some education.” That’s where security companies have a unique advantage, Kerber said.</p>
<p>“I think what the security channel offers is that the installing dealer has that opportunity to have that face-to-face interaction with the consumer,” he said. “… They have the opportunity to ensure the initial user experience is well-managed and is exceptional.”</p>
<p>Dave Simon, president of Just Write Communications, who provides consulting services to the security industry and writes a weekly blog for the Irving, Texas-based Electronic Security Association, told SSN that home energy represents an “evolution in the security industry.”</p>
<p>“What the study is saying is that it’s going to accelerate … and a number of factors are going into that,” he said. One important factor is that “the next generation is going to look for that stuff though their smartphones and is going to want this.”</p>
<p>In a March 12 ESA blog posting, Simon urged security companies to heed the study’s time line. “You may think those dates are far in the future but they aren’t. It will be here faster than you think, and now is the time to start looking at how you can profit from this trend,” he wrote.</p>
<p>“This may mean you penetrate a new market or that your product line evolves along with the desires of your customers,” he continued. “Whether you invest in this trend or not, the company you are today will change between now and 2022, and it’s better to be aware and prepared for what the customer of tomorrow will seek.”
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<span property="dc:title" content="Tremendous growth forecast for home energy management" class="rdf-meta element-hidden"></span>Mon, 26 Mar 2012 20:06:54 +0000Rich Miller15307 at http://securitysystemsnews.comhttp://securitysystemsnews.com/article/tremendous-growth-forecast-home-energy-management#comments